Many baby boomers across the country are now coming to terms with the hard reality that working for your entire adult life is no longer enough to guarantee you’ll have a roof over your head in your later years.
Thanks in part to a series of recessions, high housing costs and a shortage of affordable housing, older adults are now the fastest-growing segment of America’s homeless population, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, based on data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Here’s what has triggered what some experts are calling a “silver tsunami” — and what they say needs to change to reverse the tide.
In a 2020 journal article for the American Society on Aging, Kushel wrote that of all the homeless single adults in the early 1990s, 11% were aged 50 and older. By 2003, she says that percentage grew to 37%.
Now, the over-50 demographic represents half of the homeless single adults in the U.S. — with no sign of their numbers slowing, leaving baby boomers (those aged 57 to 75) particularly vulnerable.
After living through multiple recessions, leaving some of them with little savings, aging boomers are now also contending with insufficient affordable housing.
Low-cost assisted living centers are extremely limited — with labor shortages, inflation and reduced funding putting facilities at risk of closing.
And even rent is becoming increasingly out of reach in certain areas, like Massachusetts, New York, Texas and Florida.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Florida resident Judy Schroeder told the Journal the apartment building she was living in was sold to a new owner, raising her monthly rent by more than $500. Schroeder lost her part-time job, leaving her living off Social Security alone, and couch-surfing for months before she finally found a place in late August.
“I never thought, at 71 years old, that I would be in this position,” she said.
The Reason?
Researchers at UCSF told the Journal that about half of the homeless older adults in places like Oakland, California and New York, became unhoused for the first time after their 50th birthday.
These individuals pointed to a major event, like the death of a spouse or , as the trigger.
“It’s an entirely different population,” said Kushel. “These are people who worked their whole lives. They had typical lives, often working physically demanding jobs, and never made enough to put money away.”
From Yahoo (edited for content)
